First Amendment Disclosure News Today

The area of first amendment disclosure. thats what were talking about in my mind generally what are competing, in order for voters and citizens to make decisions the supreme court in buckley validated the interest that this body has in regulating disclosure. >> and the theory so did the citizens united. >> in citizens united. and also recognized in naacp. >> were going to break a way for a while. sean spicer is at the lectern now. >> after president obama signed obamacare into law, we are hoping...

Thats i dont think a prejudgment. thats just a values proposition and one of the considerations that you ought to be able to answer without much hesitation. >> and senator, what im prepared to say is i recognize that as a matter of first amendment interest the supreme court has validated the proposition that disclosure serves important functions in a democracy. at the same time, the supreme courts also acknowledged those disclosure functions can sometimes themselves have unintended consequences ...

Thats i dont think a prejudgment. thats just a values proposition. and one of the considerations that you ought to be able to answer without much hesitation. >> senator, what im prepared to y is i recognize that as a matter of first amendment interests the supreme court has validated the proposition that disclosure serves important functions in a democracy. at the same time, the supreme court has also acknowledged those disclosure functions can sometimes themselves have unintended consequences a...

The money? >> senator, i could speculate based on what ive read and what ive heard, but i dont know individuals who are contributing. i dont know that. >> do you know if your friend mr. -- is contributing? >> i dont know. >> do you think that it should matter who is contributing? do you think theres a public interest in the public knowing who is contributing? >> well, senator, i think weve got a long tradition from buckley versus vallejo, indicating that this body has robust authority to regulat...

Being spent. >> do you know who is spending the money? >> senator, i -- i could speculate based on what ive read and what ive heard. but i dont know individuals who are contributing. i dont know that. >> do you know if your friend, mr. an shets is contributing? >> i dont know. >> do you think that it should matter who is contributing? do you think that there is a public interest in the public knowing who is contributing? >> well, senator, i think weve got a long tradition from buckley versus val...

That there are interests here in this area of first amendment disclosure. thats what were talking about. >> yep. >> in my mind, generally, okay, that are competing. on the one hand in order for informed voters and citizens to make decision the supreme court in buckley has validated the interest that this body has in regulating disclosure. >> and in theory so do the court and citizens united. >> in theory, and citizens united. at the same time the court has also recognized in naacp for example, t...

And -- well, answer that, and then ill go on to a related question. >> senator, thats a policy question for this body. >> well, also a question of disclosure. you could ask right now that as a matter of courtesy, as a matter of respect to the process, that anybody who is funding this should declare themselves so that we can evaluate who is behind this effort, right -- >> senator. >> that wouldnt be a policy determination, that would be your values determination. >> it would be a politics questio...